New release today! I'm getting my Special Edition of FINAL FANTASY XIII-2

Arriving in the mail from Amazon's release date shipping is my copy of Final Fantasy XIII-2. It should be waiting for me when I get home from work. I can't wait. Lets hope I can review this one and have it score more towards a 90%.
In case your interested in how the previous game reviewed check it out here. http://otaku-guru.blogspot.com/2011/07/guru-reviews-final-fantasy-xiii.html

Eye on Japan 27: 【電波人間のRPG】

 Electric Wave People RPG. （電波人間のRPG) is a game for the 3DS which allows players to use the 3DS camera to see the floating electric wave people in real life and grab them. After they are captured you can train them and take them in a party on quest through RPG dungeons. Looks pretty nifty if you ask me.

Guru Reviews: Arc the Lad Collection

Look at all that awesome stuff!!!!

Arc the Lad collection Review
This game is one of my all time favorites. So I will do my usual and put cons in with my many pros. However...there are very VERY few cons.
Now remember, I am reviewing all three games at once so I'm doing a broad overview of the whole collection.


Arc the lad I

Graphics 7.5
There were times where the graphics were VERY detailed and the super deformed (chibi) sprites were so well animated you couldn't help but fall in love with them. But after a few repeat animations and a very small over world the game felt a bit...tiny, to say the least, and it didn't age well graphically. However, for being the first RPG on a console to have full CGI cut scenes it gets my Kudos...all the way.

Sound 8.0
Voicing was very nice for such an old title...plus the music was my type of good...something that I could hum hours after playing. It was very memorable but just a lead up to the next games.

Gameplay 7.5
Your cut and paste tactics fare, nothing you wont see in Tenchi Muyo or Treasure hunter G. It would be perfected in games to come. Nuff said.
Story. 9.0
The story in the first game is 100% a teaser. It is a giant back story to lead up to the amazing second game. This game alone isn't too great...but knowing that it leads up to a cliffhanger that begs you to play the next game makes it all worth it. Plus it's VERY short so it's not too hard to get into.



Arc the lad II

Graphics. 8.5
This game was worlds apart from its predecessor. The world was detailed and VERY LARGE with tons of amazing and interesting areas to explore, with a very steam punk feel that paved way for what Final Fantasy VII would be accredited with later. From steam coming out of pipes to awesome towns and magical spells there wasn't anything that didn't look nice about this game. The CGI, however, were much of the same from the first one just better...characters themselves weren't rendered in CGI till the third game.

Sound 8.0
Better than the first game, not as good as the next. The songs were VERY nice and the voicing fit well.

Story. 9.0
So many twists and turns. These characters are the most fleshed out I have ever seen. Some people (including me) got emotional at certain scenes in FF games. This tops those a thousand times over. First of all the characters, except for maybe a few, were lovable. Second, the twists this story took will give people who look deep into it Akira flash backs with a bit of Romeo and Juliet in it. It's purely amazing.



Arc the lad III
9.0 Overall
I wont go too deep into this one because it doesn't have to be played after the others. However, these games work like Gensou Suikoden. Characters and places from the other games will show up and you'll want their stats and items to transfer. What can I say, this game perfected what the others hadn't. It came after FF7 so it took a lot of reference from it, which was strange because it was what laid the order of what steam punk/scifi jRPG's should be like. So thus the graphics are a bit more 3D that the previous games with more details and camera effects added. The CGI is amazing for its time. Better than FF7 by far and very emotional. The story however is very good..but open. This game plays like a Grand Theft Auto version of the other games. The main story doesn't come till near the end...and every other mission is an optional sand box/choose your own adventure type. It works well but can be overwhelming. The only problem with this game is the main story arc..(arc ...lol). It requires you to know and care about the people in the previous games...if you're just starting it that's a bit of a stretch. However if you proceeded like you were meant to and played the games in order, then this game is a shoe in and needs not introduction or recommendation.

PLAY IT!

Otaku Guru : Zaciroth

Eye on Japan 24: Resident Evil 6 バイオハザード ６

New Trailer for Resident Evil 6. Looks like they are going back to the survival horror with more emphasis on horror. Plus the return of Leon! Looks promising.

Eye on Japan 25: Good bye Hudson

Many of us gamers, especially the retro kind, have fond memories of the companies that created the games we loved.  Sometimes they are almost as dearly to our hearts as the games they created. This make it even harder for us to see them go. It is one thing to say goodbye to the series they worked on, because you know that the company is still there to represent them, but it is another to say goodbye to the company as it feels like the final nail in the coffin. The reasons above are why it is hard for me to write this. The Japanese gaming company known as Hudson Soft, already had most of its shares being owned by Konami Corporation. Now Konami has announced they are going to do a complete take over and absorption of Hudson Soft. Hudson Soft was known for many great game series and a console (Turbo Graphic / PC Engine) that gave Nintendo a run for its money (at least in Japan). Bomerman,Tengai Makyou, Adventure Island, and the Mario Party series, are just a few of the well known titles that Hudson Soft was responsible for.  Now Konami, who in my opinion hasn't released anything of true worth in the past few years, might view this as a way to acquire a few more titles in their repertoire, however, it is highly doubtful that these titles will return to how they were in their golden age with Hudson at the helm. If Konami is going to keep all of the employees of Hudson in order to focus on these titles is completely up to Konami now.
Konami can do what they want, but I know that I, as well as many other gamers, will continue to look upon the Hudson Bee with nostalgia and fondness in our hearts.  Live long Hudson Bee!

Source: http://news.infoseek.co.jp/article/inside_53961

New Years Gaming and Holiday Thanks

Hey guys. It is the New Year. 2012. The year we are all suppose to die. I welcome it. Because in the end I will be playing Games, reading Manga, and watching Anime till we all pass. Though I doubt that will happen unless it is a self fulfilling prophecy.  I got a crap ton of games this Holiday Season. My thanks goes to all my family and friends who provided me with an awesome gaming winter. Here is a list of the amazing things I got. With a lull of JRPGs and fighters out there I scored mostly action games and Western games.
1. Batman Arkham City
Amazing game which I beat within three days.
2. Deus Ex
This game has single handedly brought back that city crawling Blade Runner feeling I got from games like FFVII. Thank you Square-enix and Edios. Also thanks to my wife who got me this game.
3. Metal Gear Solid Risk Board game.
I have yet to play this. It is huge with nice detailed figurines of the Geckos and Outerhaven.  Once I have the time and the people to play this with I'll probably do a review.
4. Infamous 2
I got the first game as a free download from Sony for the "We are sorry we were hacked thanks for sticking with us" promotion that came with the start of PlayStation Plus. Needless to say I was hooked. This game was one I had my doubts about but after I found out that it wasn't just a mindless city crawler with super hero powers and found out that it had a mature storyline with great gameplay and action, I couldn't put it down. I beat it a few days before I got the second one. So far there are a few big differences, but they feel like changes for the better. I love it.
5. No more Heroes: Heroes Paradise
Hate me as much as you want, I haven't played the original, nor have I had time to start this PS3 remake. I'm dying to, but I must game with the thought of finishing titles.
6. Zelda Skyward Sword
Wow this game looks amazing........yet again if only I had the time to fit it in.
To round out the rest of the list there was Enslaved (that Ninja Theory retelling of Saiyuki), Mass effect2, Rage, and a few others. As you can tell I am full of new games lately. All of which have to unfortunate go on the back-burner. .
All in all I want to give a shout out to my Family for giving me so many awesome titles to play through.

ほら！新しいベルセルクのアニメ！！！ Behold! A new Berserk Anime!

興奮されたぜ！

Its Dangerous To Go Alone....

I have been playing some Dragon Age Origins lately and thoroughly enjoying myself. That was until yesterday when I got lost, then I made a few arbitrary decisions that equaled to absolutely no changed. Then I wondered around a bit. However, I still had fun, I actually found myself starting to wonder if I might like WRPGs again, just a bit more....Then I saw my brother play the new Elderscrolls game Skyrim...and it.nailed exactly why I can't play most western RPGs aside from a few Bioware games. No direction. Sure it's a sandbox, filled with turds, used needles and condoms...but did we mention you can do almost anything and go almost anywhere? Cool huh?  ( I look to the old man and he says "Its Dangerous to go alone take this" handing me an anti-WRPG vaccine.)

PS I still love Dragon Age so far.

Screw One Winged Angel, This is Sephiroth's True Theme

Yes, the theme that made me piss my pants when I was younger. Hearing this song brings me back to what Final Fantasy is missing, epic enemies and horror. Sure you can say that the games weren't really horrific, but Sephiroth, Kefka, Exodus, Ultimecia ect were a lot more frightening and villainous than Seymour (minus Anima) or any of the Fal'cie (yet again minus Anima)*.


*Both Anima scare the crap out of me.